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Wanderlusting Linley
I've been coming to America for just a shade over three years. Seven trips in three years and two months, basically. For much, much longer than that I've wanted to go to Cedar Point, Ohio. Never on my previous trips though was the place within close enough proximity to be able to warrant it. Except on the previous trip to Pennsylvania, when it was mere hours away, but the park was closed then as apparently all of commercial America shuts down between October and May each year. Some nonsense to do with snow and cold weather, I've been told. Skirts. Anyway, I digress. Now that I've been landed seven days to fill, I decided, "I'm on the east coast and that's damn well close enough!!"
So after hitting Six Flags New Jersey on Tuesday, I jumped in the piece of **** car on Wednesday and headed west to Ohio. Short trip of eight hours. Done largely at 120km/h - 140km/h. I saw plenty of cops. All of them had already pulled over other speeding drivers and I remain grateful to those people for throwing themselves on the metaphorical land mines for me. There are a lot of things about America that are just like home. I can be driving along and were it not for the whole 'wrong side of the road thing' I could think I was back in NSW. Then some little detail will jump out at me and remind me it couldn't be less Australian. Billboards, for example. I have no photos of these, sorry. At cruising speed, even I'm not dumb enough to try to take photos. Besides, by the time I'd read them and savoured their hilarity, I'd blasted past them anyway. These were all in Pennsylvania, and I'm starting to wonder if it's just them that are "special" in this way. I will pay close attention when I hit the road in the next state.
The first sign to capture my attention was a religious one. One the last trip in Pennsylvania, I saw a small billboard erected unsurreptitiously in someone's front yard denouncing gays in some religious way. I turned to the Yank and said, "Really? People do that?" He had a three syllable response. "Yeah. Free speech." Wednesday's billboard was on the interstate so somewhat bigger. Pushing the line from free speech to force feeding, possibly. I'm used to the occasional Hillsong sign, promoting the happy-happy-joy-joy side of their church but this one was a straight out text from the Bible. I don't recall which, but I'm pretty sure it was being used to tell me what I was doing wrong in my life. Given I don't even take that kind of advice from my parents and closest friends, it washed right off me.
I passed the second interesting billboard around lunch time. It was black, or some dark colour anyway, featuring a pretty woman. "Savannah Gentlemen's Club" it said. "Full Menu Available" it also said. My immediate pondering was, "Can I get a box lunch there?"
The third sign was the funniest of them all. I can't even remember the company name I was laughing so hard. It was something-or-other furniture in large letters. Probably had their website, their rough location and maybe a phone number, I don't know. The picture??? A pretty blonde. They're not even pretending anymore!!!!! "We know sex sells, so here's a pretty chick to go with the name of our company because we know you'll remember that." Now that's dragging the subtlety down to non-existent levels. :D
I drove through a serious but brief storm somewhere just after crossing into Ohio. Or was it near Pittsburg... Can't remember. Anyhoo. For exactly the first time in my life I voluntarily got in BEHIND a truck. The storm came on so fast, I was unable to do anything about it. I was in the left lane (the fast lane, of course) when it hit and visibility decreased by the second. I slowed down voluntarily (also possibly for the first time ever) and felt safe enough about that while ever I could see the lane markers in front of the hood of my car and the tail lights of the SUV ahead of me. Until I couldn't see them anymore. The absolute ONLY thing I could see through this solid sheet of grey was the red lights on the back of the truck that I had been passing. I didn't even want to pull off the road. Two reasons. There could've already been cars stopped there and I wouldn't be able to see them. Also, it made me a sitting duck to be hit by someone else. So get in behind the truck I did and sat back from those red lights for several hair-raising minutes I also did. It was a little bit white-knuckle for a couple of minutes but clearly I survived to go on and do something else really stupid.
I've also succumbed to drinking Starbucks. I know, I know. But it's either that or fall asleep at the wheel.
Eventually got to Sandusky Ohio, where I'd booked myself a room, and went in search of food. The only thing still open by the time I got my act together was the Irish Pub. Which works for me. :D Although the price of a Smirnoff Pre-mixer was enough to almost reduce me to tears. See picture.
Thursday morning I was up at the crack of "insomnia strikes again and I'll get up when I could be bothered." I then went in search of coffee BEFORE heading to Cedar Point. Which means I got to Cedar Point around midday. I'm not stupid, though. I learnt my lesson at Six Flags - buy the Fast Lane pass the minute you arrive. And the adrenalin attack commenced.
Most noticeable difference between Six Flags New Jersey and Cedar Point Ohio???? At SFNJ, you are put through a metal detector and your bag is searched. Neither of these things happen at CPOH.
First ride, straight off the bat, was Millennium Force. Voted the world's best steel roller coaster many times. Its climb hill is 94m high. Its drop is 85 degrees on the other side, and it reaches a speed of 150km/h with a G force of 4.5. The smoothness and speed of that thing is almost indescribable. The rush it gave me set me up for hours. After that I went on Mean Streak, their wooden roller coaster. It was quite ordinary after El Toro at Six Flags and has big shades of the good old Bush Beast, for those who remember that. Next was the Maverick, which you've already seen the photo of. It was literally blowing my top down. Other things you should know about Maverick. It has a drop of 95 degrees. This means it goes beyond the vertical when you plunge over that first hill. While it doesn't reach the same speeds as Millennium Force, it is a lot tighter and twists very, very fast. It also has what are called over-banked turns, which I think means they lean further than 90 degrees into the corner. Has a nice brain-crushing effect.
After that, I wanted to try Top Thrill Dragster. This is Cedar Point's equivalent to Kingda Ka. It is 9m shorter in height, but is otherwise quite the same. Epic acceleration (190km/h in 3.8 seconds) and 130m high. The other fun thing here is that instead of being in full shoulder harness that makes you feel slightly less like you're going to die, you only have a lap bar harness. Super! No on-ride photos here. I looked like a squirrel in all of them because my face was going that sky-diving thing. Very hard to overcome that, even after two or three attempts on the ride.
What else, what else... I went on the Magnum, Wicked Twister, oh, oh, and Mantis!! I went on Mantis. This is a normal enough roller coaster, but you go on it standing up. :D It definitely feels quite different. I also went on Gatekeeper. I think it's a fairly new ride there. And soooooo smooth!!! Big loops and inversions that make you want to put your arms out and just sail. Beautiful feeling. And you gotta love American amusement parks - they close at 10pm. So after dark, I went back to Millennium Force to plunge down that amazeballs hill a few times in the dark.
I also went on Top Thrill Dragster around dusk. If you ever go to Cedar Point, don't do this. Only ride the Dragster during the day. Why??? Insects come out at dusk and I had to pick the dead bugs out of my contact lenses after blasting through swarms of them at 200km/h. It detracts somewhat from the experience.
In the end I went on everything except The Raptor and that was only because it looks the same as Batman at Six Flags (or close enough) and I had to choose between that and Millennium Force. The Force won.
I think I staggered into a diner somewhere between 11pm and midnight, shovelled food at my face then drove back to my motel and pretended to sleep.
By the way, those of you who can't get enough of the roller coasters, here's the Cedar Point page: https://www.cedarpoint.com/things-to-do /roller-coasters They have VIDEOS of each ride on there. :D Point of view videos. \m/
Today I backed off the pace a little and took a ferry over to Put In Bay. That's an island out in Lake Erie, one of the great lakes. I had visions of jet-skiing while there but it really wasn't warm enough. It was a warm day, but it needs to be hot for me to go get willingly dunked in cold water. It's a pretty place though, and I'm glad I went. I drove the length of the island then went in search of food (and coffee) and just pretty much kept to myself, as I do. One thing I did do quite a lot of there was swearing. Lots and lots of people get around the island in golf carts. This might seem very amusing and like lots of fun, but those things are SLOW!!!!!!! And there are squillions of them so every time you overtake one, BAM, there's another one. If I wasn't already quite the expert at the sling-shot overtake, I would've been after today. I took a detour on the way back from the island and stopped at Marblehead Lighthouse. From there I was able to see back to Sandusky and Cedar Point and admire the Millennium Force sticking waaaaay up into the sky.
I really should be asleep. I think I have to drive tomorrow or something.
So after hitting Six Flags New Jersey on Tuesday, I jumped in the piece of **** car on Wednesday and headed west to Ohio. Short trip of eight hours. Done largely at 120km/h - 140km/h. I saw plenty of cops. All of them had already pulled over other speeding drivers and I remain grateful to those people for throwing themselves on the metaphorical land mines for me. There are a lot of things about America that are just like home. I can be driving along and were it not for the whole 'wrong side of the road thing' I could think I was back in NSW. Then some little detail will jump out at me and remind me it couldn't be less Australian. Billboards, for example. I have no photos of these, sorry. At cruising speed, even I'm not dumb enough to try to take photos. Besides, by the time I'd read them and savoured their hilarity, I'd blasted past them anyway. These were all in Pennsylvania, and I'm starting to wonder if it's just them that are "special" in this way. I will pay close attention when I hit the road in the next state.
The first sign to capture my attention was a religious one. One the last trip in Pennsylvania, I saw a small billboard erected unsurreptitiously in someone's front yard denouncing gays in some religious way. I turned to the Yank and said, "Really? People do that?" He had a three syllable response. "Yeah. Free speech." Wednesday's billboard was on the interstate so somewhat bigger. Pushing the line from free speech to force feeding, possibly. I'm used to the occasional Hillsong sign, promoting the happy-happy-joy-joy side of their church but this one was a straight out text from the Bible. I don't recall which, but I'm pretty sure it was being used to tell me what I was doing wrong in my life. Given I don't even take that kind of advice from my parents and closest friends, it washed right off me.
I passed the second interesting billboard around lunch time. It was black, or some dark colour anyway, featuring a pretty woman. "Savannah Gentlemen's Club" it said. "Full Menu Available" it also said. My immediate pondering was, "Can I get a box lunch there?"
The third sign was the funniest of them all. I can't even remember the company name I was laughing so hard. It was something-or-other furniture in large letters. Probably had their website, their rough location and maybe a phone number, I don't know. The picture??? A pretty blonde. They're not even pretending anymore!!!!! "We know sex sells, so here's a pretty chick to go with the name of our company because we know you'll remember that." Now that's dragging the subtlety down to non-existent levels. :D
I drove through a serious but brief storm somewhere just after crossing into Ohio. Or was it near Pittsburg... Can't remember. Anyhoo. For exactly the first time in my life I voluntarily got in BEHIND a truck. The storm came on so fast, I was unable to do anything about it. I was in the left lane (the fast lane, of course) when it hit and visibility decreased by the second. I slowed down voluntarily (also possibly for the first time ever) and felt safe enough about that while ever I could see the lane markers in front of the hood of my car and the tail lights of the SUV ahead of me. Until I couldn't see them anymore. The absolute ONLY thing I could see through this solid sheet of grey was the red lights on the back of the truck that I had been passing. I didn't even want to pull off the road. Two reasons. There could've already been cars stopped there and I wouldn't be able to see them. Also, it made me a sitting duck to be hit by someone else. So get in behind the truck I did and sat back from those red lights for several hair-raising minutes I also did. It was a little bit white-knuckle for a couple of minutes but clearly I survived to go on and do something else really stupid.
I've also succumbed to drinking Starbucks. I know, I know. But it's either that or fall asleep at the wheel.
Eventually got to Sandusky Ohio, where I'd booked myself a room, and went in search of food. The only thing still open by the time I got my act together was the Irish Pub. Which works for me. :D Although the price of a Smirnoff Pre-mixer was enough to almost reduce me to tears. See picture.
Thursday morning I was up at the crack of "insomnia strikes again and I'll get up when I could be bothered." I then went in search of coffee BEFORE heading to Cedar Point. Which means I got to Cedar Point around midday. I'm not stupid, though. I learnt my lesson at Six Flags - buy the Fast Lane pass the minute you arrive. And the adrenalin attack commenced.
Most noticeable difference between Six Flags New Jersey and Cedar Point Ohio???? At SFNJ, you are put through a metal detector and your bag is searched. Neither of these things happen at CPOH.
First ride, straight off the bat, was Millennium Force. Voted the world's best steel roller coaster many times. Its climb hill is 94m high. Its drop is 85 degrees on the other side, and it reaches a speed of 150km/h with a G force of 4.5. The smoothness and speed of that thing is almost indescribable. The rush it gave me set me up for hours. After that I went on Mean Streak, their wooden roller coaster. It was quite ordinary after El Toro at Six Flags and has big shades of the good old Bush Beast, for those who remember that. Next was the Maverick, which you've already seen the photo of. It was literally blowing my top down. Other things you should know about Maverick. It has a drop of 95 degrees. This means it goes beyond the vertical when you plunge over that first hill. While it doesn't reach the same speeds as Millennium Force, it is a lot tighter and twists very, very fast. It also has what are called over-banked turns, which I think means they lean further than 90 degrees into the corner. Has a nice brain-crushing effect.
After that, I wanted to try Top Thrill Dragster. This is Cedar Point's equivalent to Kingda Ka. It is 9m shorter in height, but is otherwise quite the same. Epic acceleration (190km/h in 3.8 seconds) and 130m high. The other fun thing here is that instead of being in full shoulder harness that makes you feel slightly less like you're going to die, you only have a lap bar harness. Super! No on-ride photos here. I looked like a squirrel in all of them because my face was going that sky-diving thing. Very hard to overcome that, even after two or three attempts on the ride.
What else, what else... I went on the Magnum, Wicked Twister, oh, oh, and Mantis!! I went on Mantis. This is a normal enough roller coaster, but you go on it standing up. :D It definitely feels quite different. I also went on Gatekeeper. I think it's a fairly new ride there. And soooooo smooth!!! Big loops and inversions that make you want to put your arms out and just sail. Beautiful feeling. And you gotta love American amusement parks - they close at 10pm. So after dark, I went back to Millennium Force to plunge down that amazeballs hill a few times in the dark.
I also went on Top Thrill Dragster around dusk. If you ever go to Cedar Point, don't do this. Only ride the Dragster during the day. Why??? Insects come out at dusk and I had to pick the dead bugs out of my contact lenses after blasting through swarms of them at 200km/h. It detracts somewhat from the experience.
In the end I went on everything except The Raptor and that was only because it looks the same as Batman at Six Flags (or close enough) and I had to choose between that and Millennium Force. The Force won.
I think I staggered into a diner somewhere between 11pm and midnight, shovelled food at my face then drove back to my motel and pretended to sleep.
By the way, those of you who can't get enough of the roller coasters, here's the Cedar Point page: https://www.cedarpoint.com/things-to-do /roller-coasters They have VIDEOS of each ride on there. :D Point of view videos. \m/
Today I backed off the pace a little and took a ferry over to Put In Bay. That's an island out in Lake Erie, one of the great lakes. I had visions of jet-skiing while there but it really wasn't warm enough. It was a warm day, but it needs to be hot for me to go get willingly dunked in cold water. It's a pretty place though, and I'm glad I went. I drove the length of the island then went in search of food (and coffee) and just pretty much kept to myself, as I do. One thing I did do quite a lot of there was swearing. Lots and lots of people get around the island in golf carts. This might seem very amusing and like lots of fun, but those things are SLOW!!!!!!! And there are squillions of them so every time you overtake one, BAM, there's another one. If I wasn't already quite the expert at the sling-shot overtake, I would've been after today. I took a detour on the way back from the island and stopped at Marblehead Lighthouse. From there I was able to see back to Sandusky and Cedar Point and admire the Millennium Force sticking waaaaay up into the sky.
I really should be asleep. I think I have to drive tomorrow or something.
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